Detective Superintendent Tony Harris, of Hampshire police, said that Surrey Police were considering referring the case to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) because of some previous contact with Mr Pedersen.

Michael Pedersen, whose body was found beside those of his children Credit: INS

The bodies of a father and his two young children have been discovered beside a car on a bridleway near Andover. They were 51-year- old Michael Pedersen, who's from Chertsey in Surrey and Ben and Freya Pedersen, aged seven and six, from Middlesex.